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5-22-18 House UA Hearing

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5-22-18 House UA Hearing COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE HEARING STATE CAPITOL HARRISBURG, PA 418 MAIN CAPITOL BUILDING MINORITY CAUCUS ROOM TUESDAY, MAY 22, 2018 10:01 A.M. PRESENTATION ON HOUSE BILL 2122 BEFORE: HONORABLE MARK K. KELLER, MAJORITY CHAIRMAN HONORABLE ALEXANDER TESLA CHARLTON HONORABLE MICHAEL N. CORR HONORABLE MATT DOWLING HONORABLE HARRY LEWIS, JR. HONORABLE TOM MURT HONORABLE JASON ORTITAY HONORABLE CHRISTOPHER B. QUINN HONORABLE GREG ROTHMAN HONORABLE CAROLYN COMITTA HONORABLE EMILIO VAZQUEZ 2 1 COMMITTEE STAFF PRESENT: 2 CHRISTINE GOLDBECK, MAJORITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ASHLEY SHEAFFER, MAJORITY RESEARCH ANALYST 3 KORI WEIKLE, MAJORITY LEGISLATIVE ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT 4 JON CASTELLI, MINORITY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 5 JOHN McDERMOTT, MINORITY LEGLISLATIVE ASSISTANT 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 * * * * * Pennsylvania House of Representatives 25 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 3 1 I N D E X 2 TESTIFIERS 3 * * * 4 NAME PAGE 5 MARK NORDENBERG FORMER CHANCELLOR OF UNIVERSITY OF 6 PITTSBURGH....................................9 7 DAN ONORATO FORMER ALLEGHENY COUNTY EXECUTIVE............12 8 JIM RODDEY 9 FORMER ALLEGHENY COUNTY EXECUTIVE............15 10 RICH FITZGERALD ALLEGHENY COUNTY EXECUTIVE...................17 11 WILLIAM McKAIN 12 ALLEGHENY COUNTY MANAGER.....................22 13 KRIS GAZSI ASSOCIATE COUNSEL OF LGC.....................23 14 RICK VILELLO 15 DEPUTY SECRETARY OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS........29 16 AMY STURGES DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, PENNSYLVANIA 17 MUNICIPAL LEAGUE.............................37 18 MELISSA MORGAN LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY ANALYST, PENNSYLVANIA 19 STATE ASSOCIATION OF TOWNSHIP SUPERVISORS....44 20 21 SUBMITTED WRITTEN TESTIMONY * * * 22 (See submitted written testimony and handouts online.) 23 24 * * * * * * Summer A. Miller, Court Reporter 25 [email protected] 4 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 * * * 3 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN KELLER: It's 10:01 and I'm 4 kind of a stickler for starting on time, so at ten o'clock 5 we're to get started. 6 First of all, I want to point out that this 7 is being recorded, so if you'd put your cell phones on mute, 8 we'd appreciate it. 9 Also, we're here today to hear testimony on 10 House Bill 2122, allowing the dissolution of 11 municipalities in Allegheny County. The goal of this 12 legislation is to encourage local cooperation so that 13 residents receive necessary services. The first of its 14 kind, this bill allows a non-distressed municipality to 15 dissolve in favor of receiving services from the county 16 and to still retain their individual identity. So 17 today, our testifiers will provide details on the 18 concept and we will hear about its potential pros and 19 pitfalls. 20 Before we get started, I'd like to thank the 21 professionals who traveled here today to help us learn 22 about the concepts, so that we can make informed 23 decisions when it's time to vote. And I want to thank 24 everyone for attending. 25 And before we get started, if we could, start 5 1 over on my far right and introduce yourself and your 2 district. 3 REPRESENTATIVE QUINN: State Representative 4 Chris Quinn, Delaware County. 5 REPRESENTATIVE ORTITAY: Representative Jason 6 Ortitay, Allegheny and Washington County. 7 REPRESENTATIVE DOWLING: Representative 8 Matthew Dowling representing Fayette and Somerset Counties 9 in the 51st District. 10 REPRESENTATIVE CHARLTON: Representative Alex 11 Charlton, 165th District. 12 REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS: Representative Harry 13 Lewis from Chester County, 74th District. 14 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN KELLER: And of course, I'm 15 Representative Mark Keller, Chairman of the Urban Affairs 16 Committee. 17 REPRESENTATIVE COMMITTA: Carolyn Committa, 18 and I represent West Chester in Chester County. 19 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN KELLER: All right. Thank 20 you. 21 Okay, we're going to start out with 22 Representative Dom Costa and Representative Hal English. If 23 you'll come forward, make a few remarks about your bill, we 24 would certainly appreciate it. 25 The floor is yours. 6 1 REPRESENTATIVE COSTA: Thank you, Mr. 2 Chairman. 3 And again, I want to thank you and the 4 committee for allowing us to be here and to basically vent 5 out some of the issues that may be, or not be, and give you 6 the ability to have a more informed decision about where 7 we're going to go. 8 I believe this bill is an excellent bill. 9 You'll hear the word "voluntary, voluntary, voluntary." 10 It's so important that we have two former county executives 11 and our current county executive here. 12 As a lifetime resident of Allegheny County, I 13 see the turmoil that small municipalities are in, that 14 can't, you know, join up with other communities. Because 15 what happens is, you have a small community, they want to 16 join up with another community. One community may be a 17 little bit wealthier or whatever, and they decide, "No, you 18 can't come in. We don't want you." And they're out there 19 stringing along. 20 And over the last two years, we've worked on 21 this bill diligently. Pitt has done a lot of research on 22 it, and Representative English and I, both of Allegheny 23 County -- this has bipartisan support of our whole Allegheny 24 County delegation, both Republican and Democrat, and the 25 senators are on board, too. 7 1 So I, number one, I want to thank you very 2 much for your consideration in allowing us to have this. It 3 means the world to me, and hopefully, you get enough 4 information that we can move it forward for a vote and get 5 it to the House floor. 6 Thank you, sir. 7 REPRESENTATIVE ENGLISH: Thank you, Mr. 8 Chairman, and members of the committee. 9 Yes, you will hear "voluntary" and you'll 10 also hear "bipartisan." This is something that has been 11 researched and explored by Allegheny County, the elected 12 officials. Their past and current all approve of this 13 measure. 14 Just to give you a little framework of some 15 of the testifiers, Allegheny County within the last, not 16 quite 20 years, has had, under home rule charter, has had 17 three executive directors, the first being Republican Jim 18 Roddey, who's here today, and the second being Democrat Dan 19 Onorato, and our current Democrat, Rich Fitzgerald. Each of 20 these have talent, experience, and produce results. And 21 they continue to help our community and our area of 22 southwestern Pennsylvania to move and advance good 23 government concepts forward. 24 So by sports analogy, what you have is 25 probably Crosby, Roethlisberger, and Cutch here today to 8 1 give information on the experience and the breath of this. 2 We'll let them arm wrestle it out to say who's who. 3 And then to tie that all together, we also 4 have Mark Nordenburg who is the former chancellor of the 5 University of Pittsburgh, but before that, he was a 6 professor for eight years and then the dean of the law 7 school for eight years, and then for his interim role and 8 then in the role of chancellor for 20 years. And then after 9 all of that, he moved on to the Pittsburgh Institute of 10 Politics, which has been in existence for 25 years. It 11 brings together local officials, elected officials, and key 12 significant government leaders to openly discuss issues, you 13 know, without retribution, to have policy dialogue, and they 14 have rolled up their sleeves and have analyzed this. And 15 you'll hear that report from Chancellor Nordenburg, as well. 16 To keep the parody going, I guess that would 17 be kind of a bit of Dick Enberg and Bob Costas for a 18 play-by-play in color with that depth of understanding and 19 expertise. 20 So thank you for your time in hearing this, 21 and Representative Costa and I look forward to continuing to 22 work together and make this a good product and move it 23 forward with your help. 24 MAJORITY CHAIRMAN KELLER: Thank you very 25 much. We appreciate that. 9 1 I noticed that we have been joined by 2 Representative Corr and Representative Rothman. Welcome. 3 Our first testifier is Pitt Institute of 4 Politics' Mark Nordenberg, former chancellor of the 5 University of Pittsburgh. If you'd come forward, please. 6 And the floor is yours. 7 MR. NORDENBERG: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and 8 good morning, everyone. It is a privilege to be here with 9 you all today. 10 As Representative English indicated, I served 11 as chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh for nearly two 12 decades, and during that period of time, I made frequent 13 visits to the Capitol advocating for the cause of higher 14 education and for the University of Pittsburgh, more 15 specifically. I no longer shoulder that burden. People 16 have said I suddenly look taller. And I'm here in a 17 different role today, and that is as chair of the 18 university's Institute of Politics. 19 The institute was founded in direct response 20 to a request from civic leaders who believed that it would 21 provide a vehicle for the university to more effectively 22 advance its public service mission. It has been in 23 existence for more than 25 years, and on a regular basis 24 provides a neutral nonpartisan forum for the consideration 25 of issues that are of importance to southwestern 10 1 Pennsylvania.
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